Cook/Chill Legislation - Guidelines

We currently cool fillings (meat/poultry) to <8 degrees in 7 hours and I was wondering if there is a legal requirment for this to be <8 in 4 hours or if this is a guideline that I have picked up from somewhere.
Micro analysis proves that filling is still food safe when it has been cooled and it is then going through a further process that reduces counts to practically sterile.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

BUMP for Pes.

I don't like leaving questions unanswered so here's a SUPER BUMP for Pes.

Dear Pes,

Try this thread http://www.ifsqn.com...ndpost__p__7410 , opinions obviously vary, including the official (2002) Australian attachment in post #8.
(kudos to the helpful list of links routinely provided at the end of threads )

And have you already checked the standard reference to UK meat, ie the MIG document ??

Rgds / Charles.C

Thanks Charles, I can always rely on you.

Any use Pes?

We currently cool fillings (meat/poultry) to <8 degrees in 7 hours and I was wondering if there is a legal requirment for this to be <8 in 4 hours or if this is a guideline that I have picked up from somewhere.
Micro analysis proves that filling is still food safe when it has been cooled and it is then going through a further process that reduces counts to practically sterile.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Dear,

Its too much time lag i believe, if i can recollect the dubai municipality HACCP guidelines says " Food shall be cooled rapidly & the cooling period shall not exceed one & half hours (it can be best achieved in blast chiller)".

Local order- hygiene regulation of the dubai muncipality also says the same.

I think there is a lot of regulations in UK and EU mentioning almost the same.

regards
Ajmal

Dear Pes,

please check the link below
http://www.foodsafet...efault.asp#2009 and check the presentation for "HACCP for Minimally Processed Foods and Cook Chill Processes" might be you will be able to get some usfeul information.

cooling process under any circumstances should not exceed more than 6 hours. food has to be brought down to 21 C in first two hours from the start of cooling process and then to or less than 5 C in next 4 hours.


regards.

Riz

"it is then going through a further process that reduces counts to practically sterile."

Can you elaborate on what this is? If there is a further cooking step later on, then I would be mainly concerned with heat stable toxin formers and spore formers. Clostridium perfringens is probably your biggest risk with chicken? I'm no microbiologist so it's best to think about common pathogens yourself and what's likely in your process. I'd also consider that any cooking step normally only reduces pathogens rather than eliminates them entirely so if you have a long cooling stage it could result in huge counts and some pathogens don't need big numbers to cause illness.

I'd also consider the shape of the cooling curve; for example, if you stay at between 30 and 40 degrees for a large portion of that cooling time, it's more likely to cause an issue than a rapid cool followed by hours to drop those last couple of degrees.